lboogie
10-09-2009, 06:17 AM
There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London
which used to have gallows adjacent.
Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair
trial - of course) to be hung.
The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was
accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray
outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like one
LAST DRINK. If he said YES it was referred to as "ONE FOR
THE ROAD"
If he declined, that prisoner was - "ON THE WAGON"
So - there you go.
************************************************** ***
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so
families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was
taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to
survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who
couldn’t even afford to buy a pot...........
they "didn’t have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the
low
************************************************** *********
The next time you are washing your hands and
complain because the water temperature isn't just how you
like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some
facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took
their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good
by June... However, since they were starting to smell . .. .
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot
water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice
clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women
and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then
the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in
it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the
Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high,
with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals
to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice,
bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery
and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs
and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence
, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had
slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet,
so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their
footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until
, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping
outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
************************************************** *
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen
with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day
they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate
mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat
the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get
cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes
stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them
feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their
bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could,
"bring home the bacon."
They would cut off a little to share with guests and
would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food
with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto
the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most
often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers
got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The
combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a
couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take
them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a
couple of days and the family would gather around and eat
and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks
started running out of places to bury people. So they would
dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and
reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25
coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and
they realized they had been burying people alive. So they
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it
through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a
bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all
night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus
,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a
dead ringer...
which used to have gallows adjacent.
Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair
trial - of course) to be hung.
The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner was
accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray
outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like one
LAST DRINK. If he said YES it was referred to as "ONE FOR
THE ROAD"
If he declined, that prisoner was - "ON THE WAGON"
So - there you go.
************************************************** ***
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so
families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was
taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to
survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who
couldn’t even afford to buy a pot...........
they "didn’t have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the
low
************************************************** *********
The next time you are washing your hands and
complain because the water temperature isn't just how you
like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some
facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took
their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good
by June... However, since they were starting to smell . .. .
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot
water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice
clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women
and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then
the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in
it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the
Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high,
with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals
to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice,
bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery
and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs
and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence
, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had
slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet,
so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their
footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until
, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping
outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence: a thresh hold.
************************************************** *
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen
with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day
they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate
mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat
the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get
cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes
stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them
feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their
bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could,
"bring home the bacon."
They would cut off a little to share with guests and
would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food
with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto
the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most
often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers
got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The
combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a
couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take
them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a
couple of days and the family would gather around and eat
and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks
started running out of places to bury people. So they would
dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and
reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25
coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and
they realized they had been burying people alive. So they
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it
through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a
bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all
night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus
,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a
dead ringer...